Most people probably wouldn’t know a fake $20 unless their attention was called to it.

This time of year is the busiest for all sorts of businesses as more and more people are out buying Christmas gifts. Anyone can see how easy it would be to find yourself in possession of a counterfeit bill. Recently, this has been the case for several people in Meridian who have tried to pay bills or, more embarrassingly, pay a traffic fine at the police department, with a fake bill.

“Lately we’ve had a couple of people come into the department and try to pay a fine with money they thought was good but in fact was counterfeit,” said Meridian Police Department Capt. James Sharpe. “Now, they didn’t know it wasn’t any good but the people who take in our money are trained to look for that.”

Sharpe said no one has been charged with any of the incidents involving counterfeit money. And he added there isn’t any upward swing of counterfeit money incidents. He said the detectives at the MPD investigate counterfeit cases throughout the year. The reason Sharpe wants more people to be aware of this problem now: because more people are spending money this time of year, putting more money into circulation. The chances of a consumer getting a fake bill are greater now more than any other time of the year.

“The stores and clerks are very busy this time of year,” Sharpe said. “It is easy to let one fake twenty slip by.”

And when that happens, according to Sharpe, that bad bill will usually end up in someone else’s pocket or wallet waiting to be passed on at the restaurant or gas station.

Leigh Barber, the Assistant Finance and Records Director for the City of Meridian, told of a resident who tried to pay a water bill with money that was deemed counterfeit.

“Our clerk swiped the bills with the marker that turns yellow for good and black for fake,” said Barber. “To the customer’s surprise the bills turned out to be counterfeit.”

Barber said just one aspect of counterfeit bills is that the person who has them, and turns them over to police for investigative purposes such as this woman, has now lost money. There is no way to be reimbursed for getting passed counterfeit money.

Sharpe said most people who get counterfeit bills acquire them unknowingly when they receive change back from a larger bill, such as a $100. Ten and twenty dollar bills are the most common denominations that are illegally duplicated but Sharpe said even $5 bills have become more prevalent. In the cases of people trying to pay with counterfeit bills, charges are not often levied. Sharpe said detectives get the bills in question and add them to other examples to try and determine who might be putting the bills into circulation to begin with.

“We try to backtrack to see if we can trace the bills or how the person got the bills,” Sharpe said.

The loss to businesses can hurt. Barber said the best defense against ending up with funny money is the marker pens commonly used in every type of business today. She said boxes of the pens are bought for her department for a nominal price and it saves them much more in lost funds.

“We see counterfeit bills maybe a half dozen times a year,” she said. “We would like to emphasize the use of the pens. They really are a great deterrent to this problem.”

Although rare, a counterfeit can come from the bank as well as a business or individual. Call your local law enforcement agency so they can take possession of the bill for future reference in an ongoing case.

For the consumer, Sharpe said the new $10 and $5, just like the $20 bills, have the security strip in them. If you want to ensure you have good money then check for the strips. You could also carry a fake money pen in your purse or vehicle if you really want to be sure.

Receiving a fake bill could result in an embarrassing episode and a loss of money from your wallet. Rarely do citizens who unknowingly pass a counterfeit bill get charged with a crime. But law enforcement agencies are on the constant lookout for a flash flood of bad bills. If you suspect you have a counterfeit bill in your possession then contact the nearest law enforcement agency.

For more information on how to spot the funny money you can log onto the secret service.gov Web site.